NL West Preview: Season 9

Anaheim Anteaters (Season 8: 106-56, World Series champions)

The defending champs had a very balanced team in Season 8, finishing second in the NL with 895 runs scored and third in the league with 657 runs allowed. The Anteaters lost two key position players this offseason: 1B Jesus Reynoso to free agency and SS Benny Byrne to a surprising retirement. Anaheim more than made up for their loss by trading for superstars Edwin Hogan and Lou Gil.

Those two should join Haywood Gipson, Fritz Rushford and Richard Maxwell to again give Anaheim one of the best lineups in the NL. The weakest position for the Anteaters may be right field, where aging Alexander Stowers and young Wilfredo Amaral will platoon. But if they prove inadequate, super prospect Jin-Chi Choi can expect a midseason callup.

Anaheim's losses were heavier for the pitching staff, which saw World Series MVP Louie Bonilla and relief pitchers Jose Cruz and Rick Goodwin depart. Those three combined 3.63 ERA in 327 innings, which will be tough to replace. Anaheim will also need to replace Sammy Manuel's innings, but that will be much easier.

The Anteaters still have an excellent 1-2 duo in Kelvin Sullivan and Benny Molina, and Sal Roosevelt is a solid No. 3 starter who should bounce back from a tough season. Trevor Peterson will move from the bullpen to the rotation to replace Bonilla once he returns from injury about three weeks into the season. The Anteaters also signed OK pitchers J.D. Hardtke and Kordell Bordick to eat some innings, but they still need to find a couple more hurlers, either in the minors, free agency or the trade market, to fill out their staff.

Prediction: 105 wins, NL champs.

Boise Mashers (Season 8: 86-76, wild card)

Boise has a few talented hitters in Don Dillon, Tony Cortes and Jon Stowers, but not enough of them and no truly elite hitter. That's why the Mashers was a bit of a misnomer last season for a team that finished ninth in runs scored.

Fortunately, Boise didn't lose any hitters of consequence in the offseason, and a full season of Virgil Santos at shortstop should be an improvement over Andre Beimel. Jim Kirk is another newcomer, and he'll essentially be replacing D'Angelo Cedeno while splitting time between second base and right field.

There were a few changes to the pitching staff, as well. Gone are Dale Rooney, Kordell Bordick and Jack Ryan, who were all effective for the Mashers last season. Boise brought in World Series hero Louie Bonilla to replace those lost innings and bolster the rotation, which includes solid pitchers such as Jae Chang, William Cheng, Christopher Cook and Dennis Cohen (although Cohen's coming off a rough season).

Boise's biggest strength may be its bullpen, where Keith Bryant, Al Carrasco and Jose Duran form an impressive trio.

Prediction: 88 wins, just missing wild card.

Salem Sidehill Gougers (Season 8: 56-106)

After seven woeful seasons under the direction of GM bhole1980 (the high-water mark was a 73-89 record in Season 3), GM anonymous26 took over in the offseason and immediately moved the franchise from Colorado Springs to Salem. He then went about casting off several position players (Rickey Dixon, Darrin Murphy, Alex George and Patrick Hartman) and pitchers (Fritz Richardson, Junior MacRae, J.C. Carroll and Dwight Kelly) who saw significant time for the Silver Stars.

Unfortunately, the talent coming in probably isn't quite as good as the talent leaving, and the Sidehill Gougers may end up being happy that this season's win total won't count against them.

In the starting lineup, Dick Costello will try to replace Dixon at first base and Murray Matthews takes over in left field. Oscar Sugawara will play shortstop, although his offense will fall short of last year's production from Murphy, whom he's essentially replacing. After scoring the second-fewest runs in the NL last season, Salem will field a lineup that could see a sub-.700 OPS from four of the eight non-pitcher positions.

Salem claimed Pascual Ozuna off waivers and traded for Oswaldo Dotel to take spots in the rotation, joining Kris Foster, Billy Hogan and Rex Kirwan. The Sidehill Gougers also signed Matt Corino to bolster the bullpen.

Prediction: 60 wins.

Tacoma Down Pour (Season 8: 55-107)

Tacoma has lost between 96 and 111 games in each of GM mrauseo's first four seasons, but that will have to end quickly if he wants to still be in control of the Down Pour when his rebuilding efforts start to pay off. The Down Pour finished dead last in the NL in both runs scored and runs allowed, so there's room for improvement in plenty of areas.

The only significant offseason loss for Tacoma was Brooks Zaun, who wasn't very helpful last season anyway as he had the worst performance of his career.

The Down Pour didn't do a lot to upgrade the offense, although new shortstop Bo Brown should certainly be an improvement over Harry Torres and left fielder Steven Piper should bounce back at least a little from his worst season in the majors.

Bigger improvements are expected from the pitching staff. Placido Coronado and Tomas Granados are new to the rotation, Todd Terry will get a full season in the bigs and Walt Hill should rebound a bit from a tough sophomore season.

Even new reliever Derrek Canizaro, who isn't anything special, should help as he's better than some of the pitchers Tacoma said goodbye to in the offseason.

Prediction: 65 wins before things start to really improve when several impressive prospects arrive in Season 10.